Natural highs and lows

In recent years, May in Orkney has been characterised by cold and unsettled weather, despite it being traditionally our driest month. Thankfully, in 2020, we had a warm, sunny time of it, all the better to survive lockdown. This year is running true to form, a stuttering Spring, reluctant to let go of Winter, with no enthusiasm for rushing pell-mell into Summer. Sigh. At the beginning of the month, a walk around the bay revealed that, against the odds, a mole had seemingly tunnelled under the Pentland Firth and made landfall (landthrust?) in Orphir. However, closer inspection revealed that it was actually a black rabbit playing a game of "You can't see me!" Badly. As we had experienced in England in April, migrant birds were on the move, and this Common Whitethroat put in an appearance in the garden for a couple of days. As well as this supposedly being the driest month, another Orcadian myth has it that Arctic Terns don't appear from their oceanic wanderings until th...

Time for the mooted catch up before I disappear beneath a deluge of unsorted photographs. Several weeks ago, a leisurely ascent of a local hill which I hadn't climbed in months brought some pleasant surprises. Simply visiting a place at a different time of year can be very enlightening. Bog Pimpernel A white form of Devil's-bit Scabious A wasp mimic, the hoverfly Sericomyia silentis An Emperor Moth caterpillar Whilst on the topic of caterpillars, an outbuilding wall at home suddenly sprouted this (I have no idea what it is, or when the adult insect will emerge). During the Orkney International Science Festival, I was very fortunate to go along on a promotional film shoot for one of the local live events. Orkney.com were the producers, and I was genuinely surprised how quickly the necessary footage was gathered. Although the below image (a sneaky shot over the cameraman's shoulder) looks like a scene from BBC detective drama Shetland , the actual promo film can be seen here ...